Method for preventing the loss of fuel in starting furnace-fires.



J. P EVANS.

METHOD FOR PREVENTING THE LOSS OF FUEL IN STARTING FURNACE FIRES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.23. .9l8.

Patented Mar. 18, 1919.

, E] wue/wbo a Just/ ,9 1 /7/5572 5) Em/vs (1 Him we 1 JOSEPH P. EVANS,

ASSIGNMENTS, T0 EVANS FUEL SAVING COMPANY,

OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE A CORPORATION OFALABAMA.

METHOD FOR PREVENTING THE LOSS OF FUEL IN STARTING FURNACE-FIRES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 18, 1919.

Application filed April 23, 1918. Serial No. 230,208.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osnPH PRIESTLEY EVANS, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jeffersonand State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Methods for Preventing the Loss of Fuel in Starting Furnace-Fires, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a method and apparatus for the prevention ofloss of fuel when fires are started in locomotive and staifoionaryboilers which have a top draft fire According to the present practice,before starting a fire in a boiler fire box, the grate is cleaned sothat it can be inspected and, in all top draft fire boxes, the fire isthen started by spreading a layer of coal five or six inches deep on thegrate, laying kindling on top of the coal, opening the top drafts, andigniting the kindling, Where small sized coal is used, I have observedthat a substantial percentage of the coal falls through the grate intothe ash pit and is lost while this initial bed of coal is being spreadon the cleaned grate. With run-of-mine bituminous coal there is anaverage loss of about 250 pounds of coal in the starting of each fire ona locomotive grat'e that is in perfect condition, but where fingers ofthe grate are broken off or portions of the table segments are missing,the wastage of coal will be as high as a ton in starting each fire.

The object of my present invention is to prevent this loss of fuel by asimple and inexpensive expedient which consists in layin g over thegrate surface a sheet or mat of paper. woven fiber or grass, or anycombustible material which is comparatively cheap and which will preventthe fine coal falling through its meshes and wasting through the grate.This sheet or mat becomes ignited and is consumed as soon. as theinitial bed of coal commences to burn freely, and when this takes placethis coal becomes sufiiciently coked to hold together and prevent lossof fuel while the fire is going.

As illustrative of my invention, I show in the drawings a perspectiveview, broken away, of a locomotive boiler fire box with my invention inservice.

As illustrated, the fire box 1 is typical of any top draft fire boxhaving a fuel door 2 with top draft inlet ports 3 therein, a grate 4 ofany standard type, and an ash pit 5.

In carrying my invention into effect, we will assume that the grate hasbeen cleaned, as is customary, and is ready for a new fire to be startedthereon. I first place in the fire box and spread over the surface ofthe grate 4 a sheet or mat 6 of some cheap and inexpensive combustiblematerial, such as coarse paper, mats woven of grass or like material.This sheet will substantially cover the grate surface and will besupported thereby. The coal 7 is then introduced and spread on top ofthe sheet 6 to the desired thickness, kindling is laid on the coal, thetop draft ports 3 are opened, and the kindling is ignited. As it burns,it ignites the coal on top and as the latter burns it cokes into a firebed, the heat of which ignites and consumes the sheet 6. The sheet 6,therefore, will not interfere with the normal updraft through the gratewhich is called into play as the fire is built up.

I do not desire to be limited to any particular material for the gratecovering sheet, as it may be of any substance which is cheap, which willhold the slack coal in place on the grate until it can coke, and whichwill be consumed when the fire is well started. My covering sheet can bereadily applied at a cost of a few cents per fire started thereover,whereas the present wastage of fuel, per fire started, will run fromtwenty-five cents to three and four dollars, depending on the cost ofthe fuel and the type and condition of the grates. Moreover, myinvention will save much expense in grate repairs hereto fore necessarybefore a fire could be started on a defective grate, and I avoid thedanger of the waste coal becoming ignited in the ash pit, whichinvariably results in burning up the grate or seriously damaging it.

Having thus described my invention, what prevent the fine coal fallingtherethrough, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letlaying theinitial bed of coal on this sheet 10 ters Patent, is and causing the bedof coal to burn from the The hereindescribed method of preventtopdownwardly toward said sheet.

5 ing the lossv of fuel in starting fires on boiler In 6651311110113whereof I fi y gn grates having a top draft, whichconsists in JOSEPH P.EVANS. substantially covering the grate surface with Witness: a sheet ofcombustible material adapted to R. D. JOHNSTON, Jr.

Copies of this patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, I). G.

